3. Stocks to watch -- Tesla, Swiss Re: Electric carmaker Tesla reported quarterly results Wednesday that showed losses soared to $675 million in the final three months of 2017.

The loss was narrower than Wall Street had expected. Tesla's stock was flat in after-hours trading.

Swiss Re confirmed that SoftBank is in talks to take a minority investment in the reinsurance company. Swiss Re said discussions were at an early stage.

4. Budget deal?: U.S. Senate leaders unveiled a massive two-year budget deal on Wednesday, a major victory for both parties that could prevent a government shutdown at the end of this week and increase the federal government's spending.

But the plan still needs to pass the House, where it's already facing strong headwinds.

The key outlying issue appears to be for how long to hike the debt ceiling, which the U.S. is expected to hit next month, though the exact parameters were still being negotiated.